Sublime
An inspiration engine for ideas
FDR’s view of Tammany eventually caught up with the times. When Charles Murphy died in 1924, Roosevelt said feelingly, “In Mr. Murphy’s death, the New York City Democratic organization has lost probably the strongest and wisest leader it has had in generations.… He was a genius who kept harmony, and at the same time recognized that the world moves
... See moreJean Edward Smith • FDR
none who protested the production of these men as twenty-first century sex deviants, or the almost extralegal management of their behavior by a local news station.9
Shaka McGlotten • Virtual Intimacies: Media, Affect, and Queer Sociality
Valerio Borghese
Alessandro Massignani • The Black Prince and the Sea Devils
From the moment the two met, the power balance shifted, just as it had with Donald Durant in 1922. Ivar charmed Marcosson like no foreign leader or movie star ever had. Marcosson found Ivar soft and persuasive in speech, modest and unostentatious in manner. He was utterly without vanity, almost self-effacing. He seldom spoke of himself, and Marcoss
... See moreFrank Partnoy • The Match King: Ivar Kreuger, The Financial Genius Behind a Century of Wall Street Scandals
Perhaps the greatest consequence of the Chicago Smith was the way it served to reframe the problems of modern American capitalism and modern society as problems that stemmed from government, rather than the market itself.
Glory M. Liu • Adam Smith’s America: How a Scottish Philosopher Became an Icon of American Capitalism
Warren’s house in Emerald Bay became newsworthy later on during Arnold (“The Terminator”) Schwarzenegger’s successful 2003 campaign to become governor of California. Initially, Buffett was a supporter and an economic adviser to Arnold. One campaign issue was how to cut California’s budget deficit. The problem was caused largely by the anti-tax meas
... See moreEdward O. Thorp • A Man for All Markets
AT&T’s savior was Theodore Vail, who became its president in 1907, just a few years after Millikan’s friend Frank Jewett joined the company.11 In appearance, Vail seemed almost a caricature of a Gilded Age executive: Rotund and jowly, with a white walrus mustache, round spectacles, and a sweep of silver hair, he carried forth a magisterial conf
... See moreJon Gertner • The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation
‘Check the statute book, Professor. The Coroners and Justice Act 2009.’ ‘Refresh my memory.’ ‘Clearly prohibits any monetary gain by the description of a crime. Little thing called an “exploitative proceeds order”. Mainly ex-cons looking to cash in. But it comes in handy for us spooks now and then.’